


Traces Of You

by ever_blue



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drabbles, Fluff, Happy Ending, Haru wants to top, Lots of fluffiness, M/M, Moving Out, One-Shot, Pancakes, Some Mentioned sex scenes, Stalker-ish Fic, makoharu - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-07
Updated: 2014-10-07
Packaged: 2018-02-20 07:06:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2419556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ever_blue/pseuds/ever_blue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which where Makoto leaves traces of him at Haruka's place. And Haru ultimately decides that it is time for Makoto to move in with him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Traces Of You

Haru woke up first, way before it was the time to actually wake up. It was a Sunday, therefore, no school, which meant there was no reason to put in effort to get up from his bed. He blinked his eyes open, letting them adjust to the dark surroundings of his room. Stretched his arms, then his legs, relishing the feel of being strained when pulled to their limit. He yawned, and his nose was able to smell again after being inactive throughout the night. The air felt musky, chilly, and when he took a deep breath, it smelt of rain water and cinnamon and grass and sunshine and chlorine and everything he loved. 

 

Which was Makoto, still heavily asleep, curled up next to him in their shared futon. 

 

Haruka smiled, sapphire eyes glistening in the dark at the man beside him. Makoto was wearing nothing but his briefs; hair tussled but somehow made the taller male look better. He likes it a lot. Maybe Haru could convince him to keep his hair in that style from then onwards. Makoto doesn’t snore, but his lips always part when he’s in a deep sleep, and it never gets any less inviting for Haruka. He grins at Makoto, deeming it was still too early to wake him up, and decides to let him sleep in for a little while longer.

 

‘ _Gonna have to prepare breakfast for the both of us_ ,’ Haru beams, already thinking of what to cook for his boyfriend. He had mackerel (was there ever a time where he _doesn’t_ have mackerel?) and some pancake mix. ‘ _I guess mackerel and pancake should do the trick._ ’

 

He gets up without a sound, but before he does, he plants a kiss on his partners’ cheek. Makoto felt warm in comparison to his own lips. He loved that about Makoto – always warm, like sunshine, like freshly cooked mackerel, like the warm beach and water. Speaking of which, he guess there was enough time left to go for a twenty minute soak before he starts cooking later.

 

He gets out of the bed and gently tucks the cover over Makoto’s body. He took a glance at his room and sighs at the sight. Makoto’s slippers were neatly placed beside his futon, but his clothes were a different matter. They had hastily got into bed last night, thus resulting in their clothing sprawled everywhere. Makoto’s shirt was thrown into a corner of the room; Haru’s pants were left under his study table; the brunette had hung his belt on the lamp, but his pants were nowhere to be seen. Haru’s jammers were right beside his pillow. It wasn’t really a glamorous sight, but it was still a warm one, to say the least.

 

He gets out of the room, making no sound and even managed to close the door behind him. He looked around the room. Makoto had left the keys to his house down by the road on Haru’s table. The raven haired male made sure to memorize the location of the keys just in case a frantic Tachibana couldn’t find them. He continued scanning around the room and his eyes landed on a photo of him and Makoto, on the shelf, and smiled inwardly. In that photo, it was just the two of them, at the amusement park where Makoto’s parents had brought them, many years back. By then, Makoto was already slightly taller than Haru himself, and he was smiling like a dazzling star, a hand around Haruka’s shoulder whom, instead of smiling, had his lips curved up just ever so slightly. 

 

It was a great memory.

 

He shuffles to his bath like a corpse, too unmotivated to move or put in the effort to walk any faster. He snatches his toothbrush, preparing to squeeze the toothpaste when he realizes that he grabbed the wrong one. The one he held was green and had a small orca picture on it. Haru smirked, and resumed brushing his teeth with his own toothbrush, this one blue-ish green, with a dolphin instead this time. He shuffled to his bath, already filled with warm water and some added bath salt and submerges himself, this time _without_ his jammers. The bath water smelled like Makoto. The shampoo he was using was lavender, the younger teen’s favorite smell. _Intoxicating_. He releases a contented sigh and submerges himself even deeper, letting the water do its job, soothing him, caressing him like how Makoto had last night after they had _mad-_

 

He stops his line of thoughts, cheeks turning a crimson shade.

 

He gets up and regretfully leaves his bath water after being submerged for a good half an hour. He dries himself and grabs his briefs again, this time having the decency to put on a pair of pants, and notices something on his other side. It was Makoto’s blue jeans, right below the sink.

 

How in the world did it get there?

 

Again, Haru caught himself stifling a chuckle. He had been doing this for quite a while, ever since he became a package deal, officially becoming a thing with Makoto. There were still many things about Makoto which surprises him still, even though they had known each other for their entire lifetime. Haru notices small things about his boyfriend – small, insignificant things, but to him, everything about Makoto is significant. Like how Makoto prefers sleeping on his left; the way Makoto sang along and bobbed his head to the music every time the radio played his favorite tune; the way flexes his back muscles, et cetera et cetera.

 

There were just too many, too many to be listed out one by one. 

 

Putting on his apron, he walked to his kitchen to grab a glass of water. Again, he had mistaken the wrong cup, taking the green one instead of the blue, but decides that his boyfriend wouldn’t mind this, though it was the latter’s most favored cup. And again, Haru found himself reminiscing, back to the time where they got the matching cups together. Hell, they had a lot of other matching stuff –from shoes to socks, brushes to toothbrushes, ties, shirts, jackets, pajamas, pens et cetera et cetera. The raven haired boy never minded, though. Having couple items with his boyfriend made him feel somehow even more connected to him, like colors to a painting. 

 

It was a funny thing, really, because it seems like Makoto is already living with him, _has_ been living with him for a very long time. They weren’t, not really, not yet. But there were times when Makoto had called ‘I’m home’ when entering Haru’s house. It wasn’t unusual, but Haru wished it was true. It felt like second-nature having his soulmate in his house. He wanted to have someone he could come home to, to be able to say ‘I’m home’, too, especially when his parents aren’t home. He wanted that, he wanted _this_ \--all of it, to be real, and to share it with Makoto, the love of his life.

 

Makoto could move in, but it would be silly, because he lived just _twenty steps_ away from his house.

 

He’ll have to talk about that with Makoto later.

 

Placing the fish on the stove, he noticed the little alphabetical magnets arranged on his fridge. It spelled ‘Haru & Mako’ with again, a dolphin and an orca by the names. There was another picture of them, this time, a picture taken by Makoto with his cell with them by the beach. It was a really nice photo, with Haruka actually smiling in this one. The picture may be nice, but the memories which came with it were nicer.

 

Pancake mix ready, he brought out his pan and proceeded to do some pancake flipping. He made two for Makoto, and two for him. He even laid out their favorite plates. Green and blue, again, but without any designs. 

 

He deeply considered Makoto moving in with him.

 

“Morning, Haru-chan,” came a groggy voice from behind the counter, followed by a small yawn. “It smells wonderful back there. Mind if I helped?”

 

“Drop the – _chan_ , Makoto,” he said with a smile out of habit. “And no, I’m almost done. Sit down”

 

Instead, strong arms snaked around his waist, and there was hot breath on his neck. Fresh mint. Makoto, from what the shorter male could feel was wearing a pair over his shorts (hopefully with the briefs) and was without a shirt. It made his skin tingle – and in a good way. Makoto placed his chin on Haru’s bare shoulder, watching as the older male expertly flipped the pancakes. The brunette felt really warm, and again, Haru loved the feel of this warmth. The warmth was enveloping him like how the water during his bath had, and he loved the feel of it. 

 

It made his heart feel warmer than it ever did.

 

“Makoto.”

 

Said male turned to kiss his lover on his cheek, responding to his name with a hum.

 

“Hmm?”

 

“Move in with me already.”

 

A pause. But the pause was over when Makoto took in a sharp breath, trying to stifle a giggle. Yes, Makoto giggled. And Haru loved it when he giggles. 

 

“Haru ,you do notice that my house is practically a-“

 

“Few steps away, I know, I know. But look around, Makoto. It’s like you already live here. Your stuff, they all look like they belong here, like how you belong with me.” 

 

Makoto chuckled. His breath tickled his ears. But Haru wasn’t smiling, eyes serious, and his gaze boring into the pancakes and ultimately sending them to their deaths in his mind. His boyfriend had thought he was kidding, and it sorta hurts. He removed the pancakes from the pan and set the thing aside to turn around, face-to-chin with the taller male (damn you Makoto and your growth spurt) and pulled Makoto into a sweet, chaste kiss.

 

“I want you here, with me, in my house every day. I want to watch you sleep, to watch as you wake up. I want to watch you eat; I want to watch you while you’re doing something else, like feeding the cats. I want to watch as you bathe and scrub your toes– “

 

“Ah, Haru…we have a term for that, you know. ‘ _Being a creepy stalker._ ’”

 

“…”

 

“I was just _kidding_! I was joking, my dear.”

 

“Wasn’t funny.”

 

“I’m sorry,” whispered the taller male as he pulled his boyfriend into another short, but meaningful kiss. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t help myself. You’re too cute for your own good, Haru.”

 

“If you’re sorry, you’ll have to make it up to me. There are two things you’ll need to do for my forgiveness.”

 

Makoto cocked his head to the side. Haruka had never had a request from him before, much less after Makoto apologizes to him every time something like this happened. This was definitely something new. He let his fingers trace the outline of Haru’s smooth cheeks before giving him a gently kiss on the forehead. Damn, Haruka smelt like him. Was he using his shampoo or something?

 

“Anything you ask, Haru.”

 

Said male nodded, his eyes not meeting the emerald ones above him, instead turning to the breakfast which he deemed long forgotten.

 

“First off, I will top from now on.”

 

The brunette nearly choked on his own saliva. What in the world? Never had he ever thought Haru could come up with such a request. Well, they did have a few rough experiences when Makoto topped, and there was a reason he was nicknamed after the “Killer Whale” instead of “Harmless Sea Cucumber.” Makoto had always thought Haru enjoyed it, but his guesses could be wrong. Oh well, he was fine with the bargain as long as he wasn’t hurting Haruka. They still needed to swim, after all, and being the captain of the swim team meant he could never put their best freestyle swimmer in any pain for it could jeopardize their team’s performance.

 

_‘Yeah, what an excuse.’_

 

“Done. But I always thought Haru-chan would enjoy it more when I topped.”

 

“I do.”

 

“…eh?”

 

“But I prefer the way you look when I top you.”

 

Makoto was now backed-up against the kitchens’ counter with Haruka looking at him with adoring eyes just like how he looks at a body of water. The younger of the two could only smile in anxiety, unsure of what to say, dumbfounded at some point.

 

“Really, Makoto, just move in with me. There are traces of you everywhere in this house, and I can’t call it ‘my home’ anymore because I’ve been calling it ‘our home’ for so long. You sleep here more often than you sleep in your home. I have stuff here that clearly belongs to you and it feels so natural to me now.”

 

“Haru…”

 

“That… and I’m sick of not being able to call out ‘I’m home’ because there’s no point of doing so.”

 

Makoto’s expression softened, his fingers laced in Haru’s hair. They had discussed on this topic numerous times, but the elder male had never mentioned how he truly felt. The taller male blamed himself for not being able to notice the pain his boyfriend was going through. He should’ve known why Haru had been convincing him to stay. He should’ve been able to read it in his eyes that he was desperate for somebody to come home to. Were Haru to mention it earlier, Makoto could have been living with him for the past couple years. IF he had known, he wouldn't allow Haru's suffer to continue like this. 

 

Haru widened his eyes, ever so slightly, worried that he had pushed his luck too far this time. “You don’t have to feel obliged to do so…” 

 

“I’ll move in.”

 

Haru looked up, and sapphire eyes met emerald ones, glistening, filled to the brim with unexplainable emotions.

 

“Are you sure? I don’t want to pressure you to – “

 

“I love you, Haru-chan. You can look forward to coming home. I’ll get to sleep and eat with you, and we could visit my house to have dinner with my family, too. We get to massage each other, and we don’t have to talk through the phone anymore,” Makoto smiled, actually looking forward for a way to break it to his parents to tell them that he was moving out. To another residence which was a few feet away. “Though my parents would need a bit of convincing. I’ll have to start packing soon. Do you think I can leave even more traces of myself?”

 

‘ _There will never be enough traces of you,_ ’ thought Haru, his lips curled up into a half smile-smirk. 

 

“Promise me you won’t get bored of me and kick me out. I’d hate leaving again.”

 

“Never in a million years, Makoto.”

**Author's Note:**

> Short, fluffy fic. Thanks for the subscription, Kudos and comments! They mean the world to me! 
> 
> Do check out my ongoing work http://archiveofourown.org/works/2401187/chapters/5308949
> 
> Much love.


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